An advertisement for AT&T U-verse TV is displayed outside an AT&T store in Chicago, Ill. AT&T is working hard in Fairfield County to grab its share of home delivery of TV services from the cable and satellite companies. Photographer: Tim Boyle/Bloomberg News less

An advertisement for AT&T U-verse TV is displayed outside an AT&T store in Chicago, Ill. AT&T is working hard in Fairfield County to grab its share of home delivery of TV services from the cable and satellite ... more

Photo: TIM BOYLE, BLOOMBERG NEWS

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Comcast cable trucks are seen outside a district office, in Bensalem, Penn.. Comcast Corp. is one of the entrenched competitors being challenged by AT&T U-verse for TV services. Photographer: William Thomas Cain/ Bloomberg News. less

Comcast cable trucks are seen outside a district office, in Bensalem, Penn.. Comcast Corp. is one of the entrenched competitors being challenged by AT&T U-verse for TV services. Photographer: William Thomas ... more

Photo: William Thomas Cain, Bloomberg News

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A sign for Cablevision Systems Corp. is displayed at the company's headquarters in Bethpage, N.Y. The cable TV provider is facing strong competition on home turf — Chief Operating Officer Tom Rutledge lives in New Canaan — from AT&T as well as the satellite companies. Photographer: Rick Maiman/Bloomberg less

A sign for Cablevision Systems Corp. is displayed at the company's headquarters in Bethpage, N.Y. The cable TV provider is facing strong competition on home turf — Chief Operating Officer Tom Rutledge lives ... more

Photo: Rick Maiman, Bloomberg

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Fighting for customers a house at a time

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In the escalating battle to provide television, Internet and phone service in Connecticut, AT&T has a strategy to capture business, with the company's global logo aimed at Fairfield County.

AT&T employees and vendors are combing streets throughout the state, but with a recent heavy concentration on the towns of Fairfield County, going door-to-door to entice cable and satellite dish customers to convert to U-verse, which is the telecommunications giant's fiber-optic service that provides broadband Internet access, as well as TV and telephone service.

And to cover more neighborhoods and ring more doorbells, AT&T is in the process of increasing its door-to-door sales team by 22, bringing the total number of sales executives to 60. In addition, it contracts with seven vendors who employ nearly 40 people to sell the service. On average, AT&T sends as many as 60 sales executives throughout the state each day. In 2008, there were about a dozen door-to-door team members, with 30 hitting the streets last year. The current numbers are a far cry from the six originally hired to sell the service in September 2007.

"We have a lot of opportunity," said Robert Luca, AT&T assistant director for door-to-door sales in Connecticut. "We are trying to get as many people selling as we can."

Luca said the decision was made to send sales teams out to the streets rather than try other tactics, or heavily rely on advertising, because personal contact is more effective.

"I think door-to-door is unique because we are actually shaking hands and talking to you," he said, adding it is also an opportunity to educate people about fiber optics.

Brian Quinn, AT&T sales manager for door-to-door sales in Connecticut, noted his team members do not randomly knock on doors, but rather are given a list of names and addresses of people to call on.

Most of the names on the list purchase an AT&T service. Wearing comfortable shoes, armed with brochures and sometimes pockets filled with dog biscuits, the teams follow their daily leads, making cold calls and hoping their work will end up in a commissioned sale.

"That is one of the differences with us," Quinn said of sending teams into neighborhoods and knocking on doors. "We want to talk to you people about the bells and whistles."

Rivalry not new

Cablevision Vice President of Media Relations Jim Maiella said as an industry leader in bundling packages, providing services and offering cutting-edge technology, his company is not stymied by competition. He cited Cablevision's Wi-Fi rollout as example of the company's latest technology that leaves some competitors in the dust. The service deploys tens of thousands of Wi-Fi access points, offering high-speed Internet service for electronic devices, such as iPads and laptop computers, in public areas. The service is available at many points in southern Fairfield County.

"All of our services lead the nation in consumer acceptance, because of the quality, reliability, value and advanced technology we uniquely deliver to both residential and business customers," Maiella said.

He also noted that competition is a regular part of doing business for Cablevision, which has been competing with companies providing satellite TV service for more than a decade.

Maiella was quick to point out that Cablevision launched its video-on-demand service in 2001 and has the highest-speed Internet in Connecticut. Cablevision calls its digital television service IO TV, and its high-speed Internet provider Optimum Online.

"We've been way ahead," he said of the competition. He also noted that Cablevision has won back many customers who switched service providers.

Across the county

Neither Cormier or Maiella were willing to provide figures on their numbers of customers in Connecticut in general, or Fairfield County specifically. They only cited national figures. U-verse is in 2.3 million homes nationwide, while Cablevision has 3.1 million television customers across the country.

U-verse has been in Connecticut for three years. Cablevision is the largest cable provider in Fairfield County and southern Connecticut. Comcast, the country's largest cable provider, is also the largest provider in the state, serving 83 communities, including the Fairfield County towns of Danbury, Bethel, Ridgefield and Shelton. Charter Communications is the cable system franchised in Newtown and two other towns in northern Connecticut. Cox Communications provides service in the state, although not in Fairfield County.

Laura Brubaker, director of public relations for Comcast, Western New England Region, said more high-definition channels, on-demand viewing choices and faster Internet speed make cable a better choice over "one, converged, fiber-rich network" than the phone company's offering.

"Competition is nothing new for Comcast. We compete every day across all three of our product lines and with a variety of different providers, including AT&T, who is playing `catch up' to the technology and service offerings we have been providing our customers for years," she said.

Luca said U-verse was introduced in the more densely populated areas of the state. Recently AT&T expanded the fiber-optic network to extend to all towns in the county. Among the latest additions are Bethel, Brookfield, New Canaan, Ridgefield, Newtown, parts of Greenwich and Wilton.

Building costs

Cormier said AT&T television is currently available to 500,000 homes in the state and the company has a goal to increase that by more than 200,000, making U-verse available to half the homes in Connecticut by the end of the year.

"Fairfield County is an area where we have a strong build, meaning it is one of the most built-out counties in Connecticut," he said.

From 2007 to 2009, AT&T invested nearly $825 million in expanding its communications networks in the state, but not all parts of all towns can receive the service. A home has to be within about 3,000 feet from the service box to receive the service.

Cormier said AT&T will be working through the summer to further expand the service by adding more service boxes and extending lines. He also said that as technology improves, homes not currently in the range of service will be included in the operational network.

Connecticut adopted legislation in 1963 that subjected the cable industry to state franchising. In 2007, to promote competition, the state Department of Public Utility Control said it would not require telecommunication companies to get a franchise license. That paved the way for companies with fiber-optic capabilities to battle with cable companies and satellite dish networks for business.

Verizon strung lines for its fiber-optic system, known as Fios, in Greenwich, where it is the local phone carrier for part of the town, but has not expanded to any other part of the state.

AT&T executives said they do not expect Verizon to make a push in the state any time soon because of the cost of installing a fiber-optic network.

"They have the potential to come in. The challenge from their perspective is they have to build out the network," Cormier said of Verizon Fios expanding throughout the state. "We have a lot of network already built. We are in all of the towns in the county."

Satisfaction rates

A customer service survey released in January by Forrester Research Inc. ranked 133 organizations in 14 industries. For the third year, Charter Communications ranked at the bottom. Comcast was close behind with a ranking of 126 for its Internet service and one better for the television service. Dish Network was ranked 112, with AT&T Internet service coming in at 92, it's wireless phone service at 85 and television slightly ahead at 79. Cablevision Internet was ranked at 71. No telecommunications companies made it to the top half of the list. The rankings were based on responses from 4,655 U.S. consumers questioned in November.

Changewave Research, a Maryland-based independent research company, said of the more than 5,000 television subscribers it interviewed in February and March, 49 percent of those who view their favorite shows through a fiber-optic system gave the service a "very satisfied" rating. That compares with 27 percent for satellite subscribers and 14 percent for those who rely on cable.

According to Changewave, U-verse has a 3-percent market share nationwide, but the researcher predicts that will increase to 17 percent. Changewave notes the challenge will be to build out the network fast enough to meet demand, but still maintain quality.

AT&T's Luca said disdain for cable providers is a reason customers often state for making the switch to a fiber-optic system.

More choices

While recently looking into a list of potential customers on Beaver Circle and Gerardo Drive in Monroe, Joann Davies, a U-verse sales executive, said after signing the paperwork to convert from cable or satellite dish to getting their TV through fiber optics, customers often refer a neighbor.

"Neighbors sell the neighbors," she said, noting potential customers sometimes approach her on the street, asking for information.

Davies said most of her customers bundle the U-verse television service with Internet, land-line or wireless telephone into one package. All the cable companies in the state also offer bundle packages.

Quinn said the availability of fiber-optic networks has forced cable companies to re-evaluate how they do business.

"We've done some damage," he said.

Cormier said inquiries about U-verse spiked at the end of last year when a three-week feud between Long Island, N.Y.-based Cablevision and the owners of the Food Network and HGTV kept the shows off the air. In March, ABC pulled its signal from Cablevision in a dispute over fees. The signal was restored moments before the airing of the Academy Awards show.

"We definitely saw a pickup from that. Those things are no longer a course of doing business. Those are missteps that can cost you business," Cormier said.

Maiella, however, said despite "turmoil and noise", the company added 900 cable television customers in the first three months of the year.

Cormier said consumers who pay for television service will benefit because cable and satellites are no longer the only game in town.